What do Godber's performances aim to achieve?
Godber’s main aims with his productions are to influence and educate as many people as he can. A way he does this is through comedy, he uses Brecht’s technique of Spass by using comedy to engage an audience but it also makes them think. He has described Teechers as ‘deadly serious’ as although it made the audience laugh it also made them question the equality of the education system. Like Brecht and Berkoff, Godber believes that theatre is an instrument for social change and due to this he also believes that theatre is for the masses. To produce this theatre for the masses he explores universal themes in his plays, such as working class, unemployment, conservative government, gender stereotypes and uses both his time as a student and as a teacher to write about education. The idea of using theatre as a tool to educate is a fascinating concept and when done correctly can be incredibly effective, however this is something I will not be using as a driving force behind my piece as I plan for it to be more of a stand-up comedy piece which the audience can laugh at. Nevertheless, I will still use the technique of Spass to grasp the audience’s attention at key points.
